Case Study 8.1: His Team Gets the Best Assignments Essay

Case Summary: Jack’s team: †¢ Most creative †¢ Willing to go the extra mile †¢ Gets along well with Carly †¢ Often gets allocated extra resources †¢ Praised for a provocative ad campaign Terri’s team: †¢ Counseled out of an ad campaign †¢ Performs well for the agency †¢ Unhappy with how Carly treats the team †¢ Holds animosity toward Carly †¢ Feels Carly is unfair and favors Jack’s team Julie’s team: †¢ Notices Carly favors other teams †¢ Feels the other teams get the best writers and art directors †¢ Feels Carly doesn’t notice her team or help it with its work †¢ Feels undervalued Sarah’s team: †¢ Sarah has worked for 10 years †¢ Agrees with some of Terri’s & Julie’s observations, but it doesn’t seem to bother her †¢ Her team gets the job done †¢ Being in Carly’s ‘inner circle’ would require extra time and more headaches †¢ No interest in changing the way department works Carly Peters directs the creative department at Mills, Smith, & Peters, which has the reputation for being one of the best advertising and public relation agencies in the country. The department has four major account teams, each is led by an associate director, who report directly to Carly. These four teams are headed by Jack, Terri, Julie, and Sarah. Each of the associate directors have different relationship with Carly. Questions 1.Based on the principles of LMX theory, what observations would you make about Carly’s leadership at Mills, Smith and Peters? According to LMX theory and its research, subordinates become a part of the in-group or the  out-group based on how well they work with the leader and how well the leader works with them. Leaders should create a special relationship with all employees, similar to the in-group relationship. Leaders should also offer each employee the opportunity to take on new roles and responsibilities, and should look for ways to build trust and respect. It is clear from this case that Carly has different relationship with each associate directors. Jack’s team is the most creative and goes the extra mile. The result of these team members going the extra mile is that Carly, in turn, does more for them. Jack and Carly’s relationship is clearly in the phase three â€Å"partnership† of leadership making. Terri and Julie, claim that their teams perfo rm well for the agency and hence, it’s clearly unfair for Carly to be biased towards Jack’s team. Terri’s and Julie’s relationship with Carly appears to be in the Phase 2 â€Å"acquaintance† of the leadership making. The quality of leader member exchange matters most to employees who feel less empowered, and in this case it matters the most to Terri and Julie. It is the responsibility of the leader to make high quality exchanges will all the employees and make them feel as part of in-group to avoid negative implications and inequities. Sarah’s team gets the job done for the agency and Sarah clearly doesn’t want to be in Carly’s in-group, as it will mean more responsibilities for her and her team. Carly has low quality exchanges with Sarah, and their relationship appears to be in the phase 1 â€Å"stranger† of the leadership making. 2.Is there and in-group and an out-group, and if so, which are they? Jack’s team is clearly in the in-group and Sarah’s team is in the out-group. Julie’s and Terri’s team are also in the out-group but struggling to be a part of the in-group. 3.In what way is Carly’s relationship with the four groups productive or counterproductive to the overall goals of the agency? Leaders should have high quality exchanges and try to build effective dyads with all employees in the work unit, this would avoid inequities and negative implications of being in an out group. This in turn will also empower employees, and empowering them will have a positive implication on the job satisfaction, performance, turnover and the overall organizational goals. Carly’s  relationship with Jack’s team is clearly productive. I feel that her relationship with Sarah’s team is also somewhat productive from an organizational standpoint, as Sarah mentions that her team gets the job done and she clearly doesn’t want to be in the in-group. However, her relationship with Terri’s and Julie’s team seems to affect the team’s morale. It also has made them feel ignored and invaluable, which would certainly af fect the teams productivity in the future, and in turn would be counterproductive to the overall goals of the agency. 4.Do you think Carly should change her approach toward the associate directors? If so, what should she do differently? Definitely, organizations stand to gain much from having leaders who can create good working relationship. Carly should try to be an effective leader and build effective relationships with all her employees, the number one thing to do would be to communicate and listen to each of them about their roles and responsibilities. She should also support them in their tasks and motivate them to perform better. If she creates high quality exchanges, builds effective relationships and makes everyone feel a part of in-group, the team dynamics and attitudes will become more positive and this in turn will have positive effect on the overall goals of the organization.

Stefan’s Diaries: Bloodlust Chapter 1

It was October. The trees of the cemetery had turned a decayed brown, and a cold breeze had whistled in, replacing the stifling heat of the Virginia summer. Not that I much felt it. As a vampire, my body registered only the temperature of my next victim, warmed by the anticipation of her hot blood coiling through my veins. My next victim was only a few feet away: a chestnut-haired girl who was currently climbing over the fence of the Hartnett estate, which ran adjacent to the cemetery. â€Å"Clementine Haverford, whatever are you doing out of bed so late?† My playful demeanor was at odds with the hot, heavy thirst coursing through me. Clementine was not supposed to be here, but Matt Hartnett had always been sweet on her. And even though Clementine was engaged to Randall Haverford, her Charleston-based cousin, it was clear the feeling was mutual. She was already playing a dangerous game. Little did she know it was about to turn deadly. Clementine squinted into the darkness. I could tell from her heavy-lidded expression and wine-stained teeth that shed had a long night. â€Å"Stefan Salvatore?† she gasped. â€Å"But youre dead.† I took a step closer to her. â€Å"Am I, now?† â€Å"Yes, I attended your funeral.† She cocked her head to the side. She didnt seem too concerned, though. She was practically sleepwalking, heady from sips of wine and stolen kisses. â€Å"Are you a dream?† â€Å"No, not a dream,† I said huskily. I grasped her by the shoulders and pulled her close to me. She fell against my chest, and the loud drum of her heartbeat filled my ears. She smelled of jasmine, just as she had last summer when my hand had grazed the bodice of her dress while we played one of Damons kissing games under the Wickery Bridge. I ran one finger along her cheek. Clementine had been my first crush, and Id often wondered what it would feel like to hold her like this. I put my lips to her ear. â€Å"Im more like a nightmare.† Before she could make a sound, I sank my teeth straight into her jugular vein, sighing when the first stream hit my mouth. Unlike what her name might suggest, Clementines blood wasnt nearly as sweet as Id imagined. Instead it tasted smoky and bitter, like coffee burned over a hot stove. Still, I drank deeply, gulping her down, until she stopped groaning and her pulse slowed to a whisper. She went limp in my arms, and the fire that burned in my veins and my belly was quenched. All week Id been hunting at my leisure, having discovered that my body required two feedings a day. Mostly I just listened to the vital fluid coursing through the bodies of the residents of Mystic Falls, fascinated by how easily I could take it from them. When I did attack, Id done so carefully, feeding on guests at the boardinghouse or taking one of the soldiers up by Leestown. Clementine would be my first victim whod once been a friend–the first victim the people of Mystic Falls would miss. Disengaging my teeth from her neck, I licked my lips, allowing my tongue to savor the spot of wet blood at the corner of my mouth. Then I dragged her out of the cemetery and back to the quarry where my brother, Damon, and I had been staying since wed been turned. The sun was just creeping over the horizon, and Damon was sitting listlessly at the edge of the water, glancing into its depths as if they held the secret to the universe. Hed been like that every day since wed woken up as vampires seven days earlier, mourning the loss of Katherine, the vampire whod made us into what we are now. Though she had turned me into a powerful creature, I celebrated her death, unlike my brother. She had played me for a fool, and the memory of her reminded me of how vulnerable Id once been. As I watched Damon, Clementine moaned in my arms, one eye fluttering open. Were it not for the blood seeping onto the blue lace neckline of her wrinkled, blue tulle dress, it would seem as if she were merely in slumber. â€Å"Shhh,† I murmured, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. A voice somewhere in my mind told me that I should feel regret over taking her life, but I felt nothing at all. Instead, I readjusted her in my arms, tossing her over my shoulder, as if she were simply a sack of oats, and walked to the edge of the water. â€Å"Brother.† I unceremoniously dumped Clementines nearly lifeless body at his feet. Damon shook his head and said, â€Å"No.† His lips had a chalky white texture. Blood vessels twisted darkly on his face; they looked like cracks in marble. In the weak morning light, he looked like one of the broken statues in the cemetery. â€Å"You must drink!† I said roughly, pushing him down, surprised at my own strength. His nostrils flared. But just as it was to mine, the smell of her blood was intoxicating to his weary body, and soon his lips met her skin in spite of his protestations. He began to drink, slowly at first, then lapped up the liquid as though he were a horse desperate for water. â€Å"Why do you keep making me do this?† he asked plaintively, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and wincing. â€Å"You need to regain your strength.† I prodded Clementine with the tip of my dirt-caked boot. She groaned softly, somehow still alive. For now, at least. But her life was in my hands. The realization trilled through me, as though my entire being were on fire. This–the hunt, the conquests, the reward of the pleasurable sleepiness that always followed a feeding–made eternity stand before us as an endless adventure. Why couldnt Damon understand? â€Å"This isnt strength. Its weakness,† Damon hissed, rising to his feet. â€Å"Its hell on Earth, and nothing could be worse.† â€Å"Nothing? Would you rather be dead, like Father?† I shook my head incredulously. â€Å"You have a second chance.† â€Å"I never asked for it,† Damon said sharply. â€Å"I never asked for any of this. All I wanted wasKatherine. Shes gone, so kill me now and be done with it.† Damon handed me a jagged oak branch. â€Å"Here,† he said, standing with his arms open wide, his chest exposed. Just one stroke to his heart and hed have his wish. Memories flashed through my mind: of Katherine, her soft, dark curls, her fangs bright in the moonlight, her head arched back before she bit into my neck, her ever-present lapis lazuli pendant that sat in the hollow of her neck. I now understood why shed killed my fiancï ¿ ½e, Rosalyn, why shed compelled me and Damon, why she used her beauty and innocent visage to make people want to trust and protect her. It was her nature. And now it was ours. But instead of accepting it as a gift, as I had, Damon seemed to think it was a curse. I cracked the branch over my knee and threw the shards into the river. â€Å"No,† I said. Though Id never admit it aloud, the thought of living forever without a friend in the world frightened me. I wanted Damon and I to learn to be vampires together. â€Å"No?† Damon repeated, his eyes snapping open. â€Å"Youre man enough to murder an old flame, but not your brother?† He shoved me to the ground. He loomed above me, his own fangs bared, then spit on my neck. â€Å"Dont embarrass yourself,† I said, scrambling to my feet. He was strong, but I was far stronger, thanks to my regular feedings. â€Å"And dont fool yourself into thinking Katherine loved you,† I growled. â€Å"She loved her Power, and she loved what she could make us do for her. But she never loved us.† Damons eyes blazed. He rushed toward me with the speed of a galloping horse. His shoulder, hard as stone, plowed into me, throwing me back into a tree. The trunk split with a loud crack. â€Å"She lovedme.† â€Å"Then why did she turn me, too?† I challenged, rolling to my feet as I rebuffed his next blow. The words had their desired effect. Damons shoulders sagged, and he staggered backward. â€Å"Fine. Ill just do it myself,† he murmured, grabbing another stick and running the sharp end along his chest. I slapped the stake out of his hand and twisted his arms behind his back. â€Å"You are my brother–my flesh and blood. So long as I stay alive, so shall you. Now, come.† I pushed him toward the woods. â€Å"Come where?† Damon asked listlessly, allowing me to drag him along. â€Å"To the cemetery,† I answered. â€Å"We have a funeral to attend.† Damons eyes registered a dull spark of interest. â€Å"Whose?† â€Å"Fathers. Dont you want to say good-bye to the man who killed us?†

A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars Essay Example for Free

A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars Essay ? The first stage of separation is the call to adventure. Followed by the refusal of the call and the crossing of a threshold. Call to Adventure: In most situations, this call becomes the subject of the story or the plot of the movie. For Lightning, he thinks his call to adventure comes over the Public Announcement System when the tie-breaking race in California is announced. While this may be the obvious choice, but I don’t think that it is. We need to look at Lightning as the potential hero and observes how he grows over the course of the journey. He doesn’t grow in skill as a driver. He ran his first race at the beginning of the movie a lot better than the race at the end. The call to adventure is not always the destination, but the road leading to the destination. The adventure is in the hero’s growth. The growth that Lightning experiences is in his ability to have and appreciate friends. As cheesy as it sounds, the call to adventure for this movie is the call to find friendship. Refusal of the Call: The refusal of the call happened during the first race when Lightning refused the help and friendship around him. Let’s admit it, Lightning was a jerk. He alienated the people who tried to help him. Three different crew chiefs quit on him during the one season he’s been racing. His arrogance at the end of the first race was so bad his entire crew quit on him. Another example of Lightnings Refusal was his initial refusal to pave the road he destroyed in Radiator Springs. It was through his paving the road that he learned the lessons of the journey. Crossing the Threshold: The symbolism of the thresholds in the movie are found in the highways that Mack and Lightning re traveling. The â€Å"Mother Road† on Route 66 is significantly more important as it is on the Mother Road that we meet the Threshold Guardian, embodied by the Sheriff. As Lightning is frantically trying to find the interstate and Mack, he speeds pas a sleepy Sheriff’s speed trap. The local sheriff begins to follow him with sirens going. Instead of stopping, Lightening goes through a chain of events throug h the forgotten town of Radiator Spring destroying the main road and other property and landing himself in jail, or the impound. This leads to the initiation phase, which can be summarized by the road of trials, the meeting with the goddess, and apotheosis. Road of Trials: The neat part of the Road of Trials step in Cars is that they are somewhat associated with an actual road, in this case, Route 66 or the Mother Road. As Lightning began to face his trails during the movie, he began by failing them. Lighting’s failure in his encounter with the threshold guardian, the Sheriff, resulted in the destruction of the road. When Doc challenged Lightning to a race, Lightning again failed due to his arrogance and lack of experience racing on dirt. The turning point on his road of trials came in the pasture where he and Mater, the local tow truck, were tipping tractors. Lightning successfully tipped all of the tractors by revving his engine. He was also successful in escaping from Frank the Combine. There, Lightning’s luck changed and he was able to fix the road, learn to race on dirt and redeem himself from his earlier failures. The Meeting with the Goddess: I had a couple of options in picking the goddess who Lightning would meet. Since Lightning is a male, I began looking at the female characters. Had the hero been a woman, I would have included the male characters in my search. One important part of identifying the Gods and Goddesses is to not get hung up on their gender but on how the character fills the role. I first went to Sally Carrera, a 2002 Porsche Carrera, as a possibility for the goddess, but I needed to remember not to confuse the romantic interest with the goddess. The goddess that Lightning has to meet needs to be associated with a trial or test that he had to pass in order to continue on his journey. The character that I identified as the goddess, was not a main character, she didn’t even have any speaking lines. The goddess was Bessie. Bessie is the name given to the road paving machine that Lightning had to drag at a snails pace to fix the road. I chose Bessie because she was the symbolic and literal obstacle that was keeping Lightning in town. To leave town, Bessie would have to be on the other end of the road with smooth pavement behind her. Lightning challenged Bessie’s role as his captor when he tried to speed up the process of fixing the road by quickly laying down the asphalt that he later had to scrape up. When Lightning was put in his place, humbled, and respectful of Bessie’s role as the goddess, he could begin to accomplish the task before him. Apotheosis: The step of apotheosis or becoming the father or god began when Lightning discovered that Doc was a retired race car. Discovering Doc’s Piston Cups and watching Doc race helped Lightning to realize that he could learn something from Doc and he quickly regretted not listening to the advice Doc previously offered. The true point of apotheosis comes during the final race when Lighting takes things learned from his time in Radiator Springs and used it to position himself for the win. This includes driving backwards using rear view mirrors and driving on the dirt infield during a spin-out that helped him take the lead. Even though he did not win the race, or the cup, as Doc had, it was Lightning’s to give up. He became the race car that Doc would be proud to know. The third and final stage of Lightning’s journey is the return, characterized by a refusal to return, the crossing of another threshold, the mastery of two worlds, and the freedom to live. The next three step follow each other in very rapid succession. The refusal came when Mack and the rest of the media came to bring Lightning back to the â€Å"real† world. Lightning didn’t want to go. He had fallen for the temptress, Sally, and was ready to abandon his journey. Luckily for him, Sally told him it was okay to go and he left, returning to the world he left behind. The magic flight out of the fantastical world in this story had been combined with the crossing of the return threshold. Mack the truck carries Lightning out of Radiator Springs and onto California. The events surrounding this is discussed a little more when we talk about crossing the return threshold. During Lightning’s stay in Radiator Springs, he became more attached to the people there. It is easy to imagine that he would give up the California race if that meant he could stay with Sally and the residents of the town. The sweet ambrosia of friendship he tasted there was more powerful that the desire to have the Piston Cup. As demonstrated in the movie, there were three aspects to this rescue from without. First is how the media was notified by Doc of Lightning’s location. Second, is Mack with the media entourage barreling into town to take Lightning away. And third, Harv the agent reminds Lighting about the Race, Dinoco, and his rival Chick Hicks. Doc, Mack, Harv, and the media each helped to rescue Lightning. Reluctantly, he allows himself to be rescued and backs into Mack’s trailer for the magic flight to California. The Crossing of the Return Threshold: In the step of crossing the return threshold, we see the return of the Sheriff in his role as the threshold guardian. He and Sally stopped Lightning from leaving by siphoning his gas tank on his first night in the impound. Later, the Sheriff almost had to go after him before Sally and Lightning went on their ride to the Wheel Well. After Lightning finishes paving the road, and thus completing his road of trials, the Sheriff changes his demeanor and is ready to give Lightning a police escort to help Lightning get to the race on time. In the Sheriff’s role as the threshold guardian, he has released Lightning from â€Å"captivity† and it is now Lightning’s â€Å"refusal to return† that is keeping him there. Lightning crosses the return threshold as he takes his magical flight in Mack’s trailer. One part of crossing the return threshold is that the fantastical world, or the world forgotten, becomes forgotten again. Lightning had become a catalyst of life and energy culminating with everyone in Radiator Springs cruising under the neon lights. When Lightning had left town, Doc finally got what he originally wanted. After a tongue lashing from Sally, Doc quietly sat there as everyone left him alone. He sat there thinking about what he had done as the neon lights turned off, one by one. The world forgotten returned to its anonymity as Doc sat on the darkened road, under the traffic light’s flashing yellow signal. Perhaps the saddest moment in the movie. Master of the Two Worlds: The second to last step in the journey is when the hero becomes the master of the two worlds. This is done by finding the ultimate boon and sharing it with those around him. Since the Ultimate boon in the gift of friendship, it is shared in two situations. First, Lightning shares his friendship to the residents of Radiator Springs when he becomes the customer of all of their stores. They share their friendship back when they show up to be his pit crew. Most notably is Doc acting as the crew chief. Lightning did not show his friendship to Doc in the same manner as he did to the others until he helped King across the finish line. Another large sharing of friendship is where he arranges for Mater to take a helicopter ride over Radiator Springs. Freedom to Live: The Freedom to live is shown primarily in the epilogue after the race. Lightning has merged his two worlds together and can now freely live in the racing world but still be with his friends, especially Sally. Lightning literally puts Radiator Springs back on the map when he moves his racing headquarters to the small town. Also, Lightning becomes a new man, or car, as shown by his new paint job, inspired by the classic 1957 Chevy. In many ways, I have found this journey to be similar to that of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh begins his journey at home as the restless king. He soon meets his helper Enkidu and the two of them go off on their adventure to the forest to defeat Humbaba. Enkidu dies. This prompts the grief stricken Gilgamesh to cross the Threshold of Adventure to seek the answer to immortality. While in the underworld/other world Gilgamesh passes many tests before he meets Utnapishtim and his wife who help him find the magical flower of everlasting life. But Gilgamesh loses the magic plant in his Peak Experience to the trickster snake who steals immortality for itself. So Gilgamesh returns home with the boon, the understanding that immortality is reserved for the gods and that he is human. He will experience death and he realizes that he must live his life and enjoy it. So he writes down his tale to spread the word to his people. As a result, Gilgamesh’s journey comes full circle just as Lightning McQueen’s had in the movie. For this reason, I have concluded that all heroes must use the phases of the journey mentioned in this paper. Though the sequence of the steps may change, they are almost always taken. A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars. (2018, Nov 05).